Deep structure, tectonics and geodynamics of the Sea of Okhotsk region and structures of its folded frame

The use of the zonal-block model of the earth's crust for the construction of regional tectonic schemes and sections of the earth's crust based on a complex of geological and geophysical data makes it possible to consider the resulting maps and sections as tectonic models. The main elements of such models are blocks with an ancient continental base and interblock zones formed by complexes of island arcs, an accretionary prism, or oceanic crust. The developed geotectonic model of the Sea of Okhotsk region reflects the features of the deep structure, tectonics, and geodynamics. The Cimmerian Novosibirsk-Chukotka, Verkhoyansk-Kolyma, Kolyma-Omolon, and Amur folded regions and the Alpides of the Koryak-Kamchatka and Sakhalin-Sikhote-Alin folded regions are developed along the northern, western, and southern boundaries of the Sea of Okhotsk megablock with a continental crust type. From the east, the megablock is limited by oceanic basins and island arcs

Ocean-bottom seismographs based on broadband MET sensors: architecture and deployment case study in the Arctic

The Arctic seas are now of particular interest due to their prospects in terms of hydrocarbon extraction, development of marine transport routes, etc. Thus, various geohazards, including those related to seismicity, require detailed studies, especially by instrumental methods. This paper is devoted to the ocean-bottom seismographs (OBS) based on broadband molecular–electronic transfer (MET) sensors and a deployment case study in the Laptev Sea. The purpose of the study is to introduce the architecture of several modifications of OBS and to demonstrate their applicability in solving different tasks in the framework of seismic hazard assessment for the Arctic seas. To do this, we used the first results of several pilot deployments of the OBS developed by Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS) and IP Ilyinskiy A.D. in the Laptev Sea that took place in 2018–2020. We highlighted various seismological applications of OBS based on broadband MET sensors CME-4311 (60 s) and CME-4111 (120 s), including the analysis of ambient seismic noise, registering the signals of large remote earthquakes and weak local microearthquakes, and the instrumental approach of the site response assessment. The main characteristics of the broadband MET sensors and OBS architectures turned out to be suitable for obtaining high-quality OBS records under the Arctic conditions to solve seismological problems. In addition, the obtained case study results showed the prospects in a broader context, such as the possible influence of the seismotectonic factor on the bottom-up thawing of subsea permafrost and massive methane release, probably from decaying hydrates and deep geological sources. The described OBS will be actively used in further Arctic expeditions

Functionally specialized human CD4+ T-cell subsets express physicochemically distinct TCRs

The organizational integrity of the adaptive immune system is determined by functionally discrete subsets of CD4+ T cells, but it has remained unclear to what extent lineage choice is influenced by clonotypically expressed T-cell receptors (TCRs). To address this issue, we used a high-throughput approach to profile the αβ TCR repertoires of human naive and effector/memory CD4+ T-cell subsets, irrespective of antigen specificity. Highly conserved physicochemical and recombinatorial features were encoded on a subset-specific basis in the effector/memory compartment. Clonal tracking further identified forbidden and permitted transition pathways, mapping effector/memory subsets related by interconversion or ontogeny. Public sequences were largely confined to particular effector/memory subsets, including regulatory T cells (Tregs), which also displayed hardwired repertoire features in the naive compartment. Accordingly, these cumulative repertoire portraits establish a link between clonotype fate decisions in the complex world of CD4+ T cells and the intrinsic properties of somatically rearranged TCRs

Recommended reading list of early publications on atomic layer deposition-Outcome of the "Virtual Project on the History of ALD"

Atomic layer deposition (ALD), a gas-phase thin film deposition technique based on repeated, self-terminating gas-solid reactions, has become the method of choice in semiconductor manufacturing and many other technological areas for depositing thin conformal inorganic material layers for various applications. ALD has been discovered and developed independently, at least twice, under different names: atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) and molecular layering. ALE, dating back to 1974 in Finland, has been commonly known as the origin of ALD, while work done since the 1960s in the Soviet Union under the name "molecular layering" (and sometimes other names) has remained much less known. The virtual project on the history of ALD (VPHA) is a volunteer-based effort with open participation, set up to make the early days of ALD more transparent. In VPHA, started in July 2013, the target is to list, read and comment on all early ALD academic and patent literature up to 1986. VPHA has resulted in two essays and several presentations at international conferences. This paper, based on a poster presentation at the 16th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition in Dublin, Ireland, 2016, presents a recommended reading list of early ALD publications, created collectively by the VPHA participants through voting. The list contains 22 publications from Finland, Japan, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States. Up to now, a balanced overview regarding the early history of ALD has been missing; the current list is an attempt to remedy this deficiency. (C) 2016 Author(s).Peer reviewe

VDJdb in 2019: database extension, new analysis infrastructure and a T-cell receptor motif compendium

Here, we report an update of the VDJdb database with a substantial increase in the number of T-cell receptor (TCR) sequences and their cognate antigens. The update further provides a new database infrastructure featuring two additional analysis modes that facilitate database querying and real-world data analysis. The increased yield of TCR specificity identification methods and the overall increase in the number of studies in the field has allowed us to expand the database more than 5-fold. Furthermore, several new analysis methods are included. For example, batch annotation of TCR repertoire sequencing samples allows for annotating large datasets on-line. Using recently developed bioinformatic methods for TCR motif mining, we have built a reduced set of high-quality TCR motifs that can be used for both training TCR specificity predictors and matching against TCRs of interest. These additions enhance the versatility of the VDJdb in the task of exploring T-cell antigen specificities. The database is available at https://vdjdb.cdr3.net